He spoke after officers travelled to Britain to question the Tapas Seven – the friends Gerry and Kate McCann dined with on the night Madeleine, four, disappeared. Dr Encarnacao said: “Everything’s going well. The inquiries carried out in the UK are progressing in the best way possible.”

But the president of Portugal’s Bar Association criticised the police investigation and said his country’s legal system was out of date.

Antonio Marinho e Pinto said: “They have reached a dead end and don’t know how to admit it.”